The Last Chance For Summer Abs Workout

Summer is coming. Nevertheless, its will be hot. For that reason, your dream of having abs this summer isn’t dead. In fact, if you take the next few weeks seriously, you can still get lean enough to say you were ripped before the sun goes down on the summer of ’18.

When people want to see their muscles pop, they tend to make the mistake of doing more isolation exercises—curls, crunches, pec flyes, etc.

They reason that by isolating these muscles, they’ll grow more and show better.

The problem is, isolation exercises don’t demand much of your body.

They don’t burn enough calories to get you leaner—and when you’re lean, every muscle shows better.

So, when you want to lose fat, you should train the same way as when you want to get bigger—with compound lifts that work as much muscle as possible.

The ideal training program will include a minimum of three to four resistance training sessions per week, emphasizing basic lifts like squats, presses, and deadlifts.

Three to five sets of 4–10 reps is a good range to work in.

Once you’ve done those exercises, you can follow them up with what’s called “accessory” lifts—exercises that build the muscles that are needed to make you strong on the main lifts and balance out your physique.

To maximize caloric output, you can spend more time on your accessory work, and perform it in a number of ways.

Realize that lifting burns calories just like cardio does, and for most us, it’s a heck of a lot more fun to do.

Here are some options:

1. Do a “finisher.”

A finisher is an exercise you use to close out your workout and empty your tank. It’s done in short, intense intervals that jack up your metabolic rate. For example at TRX Training Sydney, at TRX Circuit Class we finish with H.I.S.S ...find out WTF H.I.S.S is here.

Finishers include sprints with a weighted sled, jumping rope, or TRX 40/40 Challange for time. Make up your own finishers, but limit them to 5-10 minutes at the end of your strength training.

2. Turn up the volume.

Gradually adding a few extra sets, reps, or exercises to your accessory work over time can boost its muscle-building effect and help you burn more calories.

For example, if you’re doing three sets of Double Kettlebell Thrusters in your first week on this program, go up to two sets in the second week. On a different exercise, if you were doing sets of 10, go for sets of 12. If you start out doing one exercise for your back, do two of them.

3. Try a Tabata.

The Tabata protocol is simply this: work hard for 20 seconds and rest 10. Continue for four minutes. Try it with TRX Burpees.

Summer Abs Cardio

While traditional cardio will go a long way toward burning calories, it can be boring. Worse yet, your body adapts to it quickly, making it harder to lose more fat.

For that reason, you should focus more on high-intensity cardio. Examples include battle ropes and kettlebell swings—many of the same exercises you might use for finishers. Limit your high-intensity cardio to 20 minutes, and try to do it after a weight workout or on a separate day entirely. Two or three days per week is enough.

The following is a metabolic conditioning workout (“metcon”) that won’t infringe on your ability to recovery from weight workouts.

Do as many rounds as possible in 7 minutes. For Side kick troughs, once you get the movement right, add speed and tempo.

Not only will this metcon burn a lot of calories and raise your metabolism for days afterward, it will also provide a significant number of reps in terms of pushing, pulling and core work. The extra volume will pump up your chest, back, shoulders, and abs (the “trophy” muscles), enhancing your physique as you lean out.

Sprinting

Another cardio option is to run sprints, preferably up a hill, which is safer than running on flat ground. Try the following sprint protocol for three weeks.